[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 158 (Tuesday, October 27, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S7541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        EPA GOLD KING MINE SPILL

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, last month the Senate Indian Affairs 
Committee held an oversight hearing on the Environmental Protection 
Agency's Gold King Mine disaster. I am very grateful that Chairman John 
Barrasso and Vice Chairman Jon Tester quickly made this matter a 
priority for their committee following the August break. The hearing 
focused on the harmful impacts that spill is having on Indian Country, 
namely the Navajo Nation, the Southern Ute Tribe, and the Ute Mountain 
Ute Tribe.
  On the Navajo Nation, an estimated 1,500 farms have been damaged by 
the EPA and its contractors when they released a deluge of tailings-
pond wastewater from the abandoned Gold King Mine. On August 5, 2015, 
an acidic plume of mercury, arsenic, and other metals worked its way 
down the Animas River in Colorado and into the San Juan River near 
Farmington, NM. Nobody yet knows for certain the total damage to crops, 
soil, livestock, wildlife, and water supplies that are critical sources 
of food for the Navajo people and also serve as economic and cultural 
centers. Those farmers who were able to shut down their irrigation 
systems watched in horror as their crops wilted.
  The EPA now says water quality in the San Juan River has returned to 
``pre-event levels,'' but the Gold King Mine is still releasing water 
roughly at 600 gallons per minute. The concentrations of toxic metals 
may not as be as high today as it was during the initial 3 million 
gallon flush, but the Navajo are still waiting for EPA to demonstrate 
it can prevent another large release. The nation is rightfully 
demanding assurances that heavy rainfall won't disturb toxic substances 
that may have settled in the sediment of the Animas River, the San Juan 
River, or even Lake Powell.
  In August, I--along with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey--met with Navajo 
Nation president Russell Begaye and Navajo council speaker Lorenzo 
Bates in Window Rock, AZ, to discuss this matter. I can assure my 
colleagues that the Navajo are suffering deeply and dearly because of 
this spill. I have also received calls and letters from a number of 
concerned constituents, mayors, county supervisors, and businesses in 
northern Arizona who also have a stake in the health and safety of Lake 
Powell. They are just as alarmed as the Navajo people that the plume 
could endanger their livelihoods and their enjoyment of natural 
resources in their communities. The Arizona Department of Environmental 
Quality and the Arizona Geological Survey have been expending scarce 
resources to conduct water samples independent of EPA. And that has 
been helpful. But the Federal Government has to step up and take action 
that would allow all affected stakeholders, but especially tribal 
communities, find confidence in what the Federal Government is doing to 
fix the mess that it created.
  At last month's hearing, we received testimony from EPA Administrator 
Gina McCarthy and others dealing with the spill, including the Navajo 
Nation president, Russell Begaye. We also received testimony from Doug 
Holtz-Eakin, a noted economist and former Director of the Congressional 
Budget Office. Mr. Holtz-Eakin estimated that the spill will cost the 
Navajo's agriculture sector roughly $41,000 a day in lost economic 
activity.
  While I am grateful that Administrator McCarthy agreed to appear 
before the committee, I am concerned that, under her watch, not a 
single Agency employee or contractor had been fired for the disaster. 
In her testimony, Administrator McCarthy portrayed the EPA's response 
to the tribes as timely, but her portrayal was directly contradicted by 
the testimony of the Navajo president, who noted that it took EPA 2 
days to notify the tribe about the plume's threat to the tribe. It was 
also revealed that Administrator McCarthy did not directly contact 
President Begaye for about 5 days after the spill. The committee also 
received testimony that EPA had not quickly and routinely shared water 
monitory data with the tribes. All of this shatters any notion that EPA 
has honored its government-to-government responsibility to the nation.
  The Gold King Mine spill was a series of failures by EPA that 
compounded, and the Navajo are paying the price. I will continue to 
push for increased congressional oversight into this matter.

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